PVBLIC Foundation President of the Board, Kerry Bannigan Remarks at the Transforming Global Education Summit [As-Delivered]

1 May 2026 

United Nations Headquarters

Excellencies, 

Honorable ministers, 

Distinguished delegates, 

Partners and Colleagues. 

Good morning. 

It is a privilege to welcome you to the Transforming Global Education Summit here at the United Nations on behalf of PVBLIC Foundation and our Chairman, Sergio Fernández de Cordova.

I would like to begin by expressing our sincere appreciation to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. The Government of the Kingdom of Tonga, the Learning Economy Foundation and 256 Network Foundation. Your partnership and leadership has made this moment possible, and they reflect a shared belief that the way we approach education must evolve.

For many years, education has been discussed as a priority, as a system and as a pathway to opportunity. And yet, despite that consensus, the outcomes have remained uneven across regions and across generations. Access, quality and relevance continue to vary in ways that limit both individual potential and collective progress.

What we will see today is not focusing on a lack of effort or intention. It is to question how education has been framed at PVBLIC. We have come to understand education in a broader and more practical sense. Not only is what it takes within classrooms, but as the full set of tools, systems and building capacities for all ages that allow people and countries to participate in an ever changing world.

Education in this sense to us, is closely connected to technology. It is connected to data. It is connected to access connectivity and to the ability to translate knowledge into action. 

When we speak about transforming education, we are really speaking about strengthening those connections. We are speaking about how countries can better access the tools so that they can plan and deliver, how institutions can adapt to new technologies in ways that are practical and inclusive, and how young people can be prepared not only for the opportunities of today, but for the future that is still taking place and shape.

This perspective becomes even more important when we look at how the countries are navigating multiple pressures at once. In Small Island Developing States, including Tonga and Antigua and Barbuda, education systems are being asked to do more. Under increasingly complex conditions, they must respond to climate realities, geographic constraints and limited resources, while also keeping pace with global technological change.

In these contexts, education is not only about learning, it becomes part of how resilience is built, how systems are strengthened, and how communities prepare for uncertainty. And this is what today has brought us together. 

The Summit creates space for a different kind of conversation, one that brings together governments, multilateral institutions, technology partners, educators and investors to think more holistically about what education can become.

There is a shared recognition emerging that education connects many of the priorities that we are all working toward. It supports economic development, strengthens institutions, and expands opportunity. It also serves as a bridge between policy and implementation, and that is where the focus of today becomes important.

This is not only a moment to exchange perspectives, but an opportunity to consider how ideas can translate into action, how partnerships can be structured in ways that will support delivery, and how existing tools, technologies and resources can be better aligned to meet the real needs on the ground.

Throughout the day, we will explore a number of questions that will sit at the centre of this work. How can education systems better reflect national development priorities? How can technology be integrated in ways that expand access while maintaining equity. And how can educators and institutions be supported as the Pace continues to bring change at such acceleration?

And also, how do we ensure that countries facing the greatest constraints are fully included in the solutions that we are building? These are complex questions, but they are also extremely practical and they require continued collaboration across sectors and regions. What we hope is that this summit serves as a starting point for that collaboration to deepen that.

This helps connect the right partners, align efforts already underway, and contribute to a more coordinated approach moving forward. We are very grateful for all of you being here and for contributing your perspectives and experience to this dialog, and we look forward to an extremely productive day together.

Thank you very much.